Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw was expected to throw a simulated game in Los Angeles in the next two days. Instead, he traveled to Chicago with the team and threw 45 pitches over three simulated innings at Wrigley Field on Monday afternoon – a change that sets him up to potentially return from his latest back injury and pitch for the Dodgers against the New York Mets this weekend. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw was expected to throw a simulated game in Los Angeles in the next two days. Instead, he traveled to Chicago with the team and threw 45 pitches over three simulated innings at Wrigley Field on Monday afternoon – a change that sets him up to potentially return from his latest back injury and pitch for the Dodgers against the New York Mets this weekend.

“It felt good today,” Kershaw said after the workout. “I’ll be pitching somewhere in the next four or five days.”

And that is the subject of the debate that seems to follow each of Kershaw’s trips to the DL over the past three years. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts essentially acknowledged that the team would prefer it if Kershaw made a rehab start with “one of our affiliates, most likely OKC,” the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers. In the past, Kershaw has pushed to eschew the rehab assignment and return straight to the majors.

Though he has pitched just once in the past seven weeks – spending 30 days on the DL with biceps tendinitis then suffering a back strain after making one start – Kershaw is clearly pushing to do the same this time.

“It’s a conversation,” Roberts said. “Obviously, Clayton is going to be on the more aggressive side, which we can appreciate. We have to have the conversation with the training staff, the front office and really figure out what makes the most sense for him and us.

“You can absolutely make that case (for a rehab start) and that was our thought. But when you talk to the player, you bake that in. But you look at how much he’s pitched over the past two months, yeah, it hasn’t been a whole lot. So to see it in real competition, obviously, that makes a lot of sense.”

Left-hander Caleb Ferguson remains on the Dodgers’ roster as an option for this weekend if Kershaw does not return.

“We’ll see,” was all Kershaw would say to the question of where he will pitch in four or five days.

Although he characterized this back injury as comparable to last year’s injury, every step of Kershaw’s recovery has gone more quickly this year. He was throwing off a mound within two weeks and now could possibly rejoin the Dodgers’ rotation roughly three weeks after going on the DL. A year ago, he missed five weeks.

“I didn’t really have any expectations,” he said. “But, yeah, it has gone faster (than last year). I don’t know why. Maybe it (the strain) wasn’t as bad. Maybe it just healed faster. Maybe it’s the time of year. I don’t know.”

PITCHERS PROGRESS

Like Tom Koehler (shoulder) and Hyun-Jin Ryu (groin), reliever Tony Cingrani suffered a setback recently in his recovery from a strained rotator cuff.

Roberts said Cingrani felt “a little something” in his shoulder during his throwing session a few days ago and his workouts have been shut down temporarily.

“When he gets ramped up, I really don’t know,” Roberts said.

Cingrani has been out since leaving a June 6 appearance after one batter.

Meanwhile, right-hander Walker Buehler has progressed in his recovery from a microfracture in a rib on his right side and is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Saturday in New York. Buehler has been out since June 8.

“From that point, we’ll have a little more information to figure out how aggressive we can be with him,” Roberts said of Buehler’s bullpen session.

Roberts also said Ryu’s setback was just “some tightness” in his injured groin muscle and he has already resumed throwing. Ryu will try throwing off a mound again “in the next couple days.”

ALSO

Veteran infielder Chase Utley is expected to come off the DL during the series in Chicago.

Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.